There has been no relief for Christians in the East Indonesian Maluku Islands, who continue to face gunfire in the streets, destruction of churches and homes, and economic hardship, says Reinhold Kesaulya, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the region.

“Ambon and Maluku as a whole are in great anguish,” says Kesaulya after a two-day visit to Ambon. “Fighting, killing, and burning of churches and houses are happening every day.”

Religious violence between Muslims and Christians in the Maluku Islands, formerly called the Spice Islands, has raged since January 1999, leaving more than 3,000 people dead.  According to news reports, Islamic fighters from other Indonesian regions and other Muslim countries have responded to calls for jihad, or holy war, and have flooded into East Indonesia in the past year. 

“Prior to my arrival, Ambon City had been shaken by bombs, mortars, and grenades,” says Kesaulya, who visited the island on October 12 and 13. “Some roads in the city had been blocked.” He adds that snipers are present all over the city. “Late in the afternoon [of my arrival] I witnessed a schoolboy being shot by a sniper,” says Kesaulya, who adds that the boy survived but is in critical condition in hospital.

Describing the devastation in his home village-Siri Sori Serani, on the island of Saparua-Kesaulya says that 343 houses and the local Lutheran Church building have been burned down.

“People need help as soon as possible,” says Kesaulya.  “They are sheltering themselves under the trees and simple houses made of tall grass.  The rainy season is at hand and they need help immediately.”

While some 90 percent of Indonesians are Muslim, the population in the Maluku region is almost evenly divided between Christian and Muslim.  Before the current conflict, the region was known for its religious tolerance and for the peaceful coexistence of its two dominant religious groups.

As reported earlier in ANN, at least 15 Adventists have been killed in the sectarian violence and 12 churches burned. Currently, more than 1,000 Adventist refugees are gathered near the Adventist Church regional headquarters in Manado, Sulawesi Utara. (See ANN reports from August 29, 2000, and October 3, 2000)